Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns DS & 3DS (牧場物語 ふたごの村, Bokujō Monogatari: Futago no Mura, lit. Ranch Story: Twin Villages) is the sixth Harvest Moon title to be released for the Nintendo DS system, and is the first Harvest Moon game to be released on the Nintendo 3DS.

Contents

Plot

Hundreds of years ago, the towns of Bluebell and Konohana were friendly neighbors, joined together by a tunnel underneath the mountain that separated the towns.

The mayor of Bluebell began fighting with Konohana's mayor as time went on. Each mayor claimed that their town was better, and it created more and more tension between the two towns. As the mayors continued to fight, the Harvest Goddess grew more and more restless.

When the fighting didn't stop, the Harvest Goddess punished the two towns by blocking the tunnel that once connected them. Generations have passed, the town's have very little interaction now, but still remain bitter to one another.

As a new farmer, you are eager to begin your new life on a new farm. While travelling on the mountain, you fall off of your carriage after nearly colliding with foxes, and you forget which town you were supposed to live in! Rutger, mayor of Bluebell, and Ina, mayor of Konohana, will each tell you a bit about their own, and it will then be up to you as the player to decide which town you like best. After picking a town, you will begin your new life there, and attempt to mend the relationship between the two towns.

Gameplay

The game's main purpose is to win the cooking competitions that happen four days out of each season. This is when each town will come together and compete. By competing in each competition, it will slowly increase the friendship between the two mayors. By increasing their friendship, the Harvest Goddess will eventually decide to unblock the tunnel that is blocking the two towns.

Although the game's main purpose is to cook dishes for the cooking festival, the game has many of the classic Harvest Moon elements to it as well. The player will have a choice between a female (Lillian) or male character (Phillip), and will also have a choice of which town they'd like to live in. The player will then be introduced to their farm.

The player can grow crops on their farm, raise livestock, forage, fish, catch bugs, and do requests to make money. Relationships are also a very key part of the game. Interacting between NPC's is important in order to build friendships, and to also build the flower level of the person you'd like to eventually marry and have a child with.

New Features

Brand new cast of characters as well as a few returning characters.

You can choose between Konohana and Bluebell. You can also move to the other village at the end of each season.

There is a tunnel that runs between the two towns as a way of transport between the two villages.

New crops are available to be planted such as daikon radish and bok choy.

Instead of a heart near a character's portrait, there is a chain of flowers to tell you friendship levels.

Brand new way of triggering heart events, and being able to take somebody out on a date.

Plant crops under the Goddess' Spring for your friends to be able to harvest over wifi.

Certain bachelors can now perform 'reverse proposals.

Villagers sometimes post requests on the request boards in each village.

Rival marriage and rival children have been removed.

DS vs. 3DS

There are only a few differences between the Nintendo DS version and the 3DS version. the 3DS version has 3D capability, while the DS version does not. The graphic quality is better on the 3DS because of it's enhanced screen. The 3DS' screen is also wider, so you get to get a wider view of the area.

Another difference is that the DS version is not region locked while the 3DS version is. The 3DS version also has a street pass feature. With this game's street pass, you can put items in your 'Street Pass Box' and trade items with people you pass by. The last feature is that unique to the 3DS version, is that it has an extra petting minigame, like the ones Island of Happiness, and Sunshine Islands that make it easier to max out your animals' hearts.

Otherwise, the two games are completely identical. On a negative note, the 3DS version has some unexplainable framerate issues on larger farms.

Marriage

Year 2 or later.

Full flowers (60,000 FP).

Big bed (When you get to year 2 and have Eileen at 7750 FP+ she will post a request on the message board to obtain the big bed).

Complete Eileen's second "A New Bed" request (becomes available after you are married).

You or your wife will be pregnant for two seasons before the baby is born. There are three stages of growth for your child before it stops growing forever. At each stage, your child will have their own unique set of likes and dislikes.